 "Supreme Court stays Feb 13 order to evict nearly 1.89 million tribals")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to release the first instalment of Rs 540 crore for pucca homes, benefiting over 100,000 beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Gramin scheme. This initiative is part of the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN), which focuses on the socio-economic development of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs).
Since its launch on November 15, 2023, PM-JANMAN has approved projects worth over Rs 4,700 crore across various sectors, including housing, roads, anganwadis, hostels, and electrification. The Mission, with a total outlay of Rs 24,104 crore, focuses on 11 critical interventions to enhance socio-economic conditions for PVTGs over the next three years. The Centre will share 15,336 crore of the costs while states will contribute Rs 8,768 crore.
PM Modi will interact with PM-JANMAN beneficiaries from PVTGs through video conferencing across more than 100 districts. Launched on Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, the initiative aims to empower the last person at the last mile, aligning with the vision of Antyodaya.
Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda sees PM-JANMAN as a significant step to address the needs of PVTG households. The initiative has sanctioned projects such as roads (1,207 km out of 8,000 km target), hostels (100 out of 500 target), and anganwadis (916 out of 2,500 target).
In the last three weeks, over 7,000 camps have been organised to facilitate Aadhaar and Ayushman cards, Jan Dhan accounts, and scheme registrations, reaching PVTGs in 188 districts. The government has issued 70,000 new Aadhaar cards and 82,000 Ayushman Bharat cards, granted individual forest rights to 10,396 beneficiaries, and issued 49,916 caste certificates.
The PVTG category has expanded from 52, to include 75 groups in 22,544 villages across 18 states and one Union territory. This has led to the number of potential beneficiaries going up to around 2.8 million individuals. Large groups have mainly been identified in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.
